“Spoiler Alert”. Please do not read any further if you do not want to know anything about the book. These discussions are completely open for discussion (hence the spoiler alert).

This is the latest fill in written by Katherine Bruce. It is her third fill in novel and covers the term of Princess. Katherine provides us with the Juniors perspective of the events which occur in this term. She also tries to answer some of the mysteries behind the comments and questions raised in Princess such as Grizel’s dollshouse and why it was Grizel assisting Miss Durrant and Mademoiselle with getting the Juniors out of Le Petit Chalet during the thunderstorm and the questions around the missing laundry. She also provides us with the full extent of Matron Webb unpopularity and the school’s perspective of Joey and Elisaveta going missing. It is a book that is definitely worth a read.

The book opens at the beginning of the term with Juliet catching up with her fellow Prefects. Juliet is hesitant to reveal her full concerns over the new Matron, whilst Rosalie is expressing her longing for a peaceful term. Grizel is asked by Madame and Mademoiselle to transfer to the Le Petit Chalet and assist the mistresses with the Juniors. The Juniors see Juliet assisting Grizel with moving her belongings across and think it means they get Juliet to themselves for the term. Neither Grizel nor the Juniors are entirely happy with the situation. A new master is also added to the team with Herr Laubach starting at the school.

Grizel despite not being entirely happy about being transferred to the Le Petit Chalet is determined to do her best by Madame and Mademoiselle and justify their faith in her. Whilst she tries hard, her manner, and her belief that the Juniors need constant supervision and are unable to do more than they can, let her down at every turn. The Juniors are resentful of this, however are distracted by someone worse: Matron Webb. Matron’s behaviour towards them is much worse and the Juniors both loathe her and are terrified of her. They soon join in the Middles attempts of trying to get rid of Matron Webb and decide to hide the laundry on her so nothing returns from the wash. Amy soon works out what the Middles are doing with speaking loudly and soon join in the fun. Matters soon come to a head with the Robin being locked in a cupboard and Matron being sacked.

Once the problem with Matron Webb has been resolved, the Juniors set to work to get rid of Grizel. They start by trying to make it look like she can’t do her job properly and then finish it by sending her to Coventry and refusing to have anything to do with her. Grizel is both angry and hurt by their behaviour and does the best thing possible – she turns to Juliet for help. Juliet is able to listen and suggests discussing it with Madame and in her absence, Mademoiselle. Between Juliet and Grizel, they are both able to help Grizel see where she was going wrong and help her to see how she is able to put her relationship right with the Juniors. Once their relationship is on better footing and both parties can see where they went wrong, the school moves on to more peaceful events such as a trip to the Zillerthal.

A thunderstorm strikes causing the fear of fire from lightening strikes until the rain falls. The girls then spend the next day in Spartz after the event to help them recover and are invited for Kaffe und Kuchen with Herr Anserl. Exam start soon after and much to their disappointment the Juniors are informed Grizel will be returning to the main Chalet School for the rest of the term. And finally Joey and Elisaveta go missing, leaving the school wondering where they are. Grizel comes up trumps again by helping Robin during this time as she is upset with Joey being missing. Finally the term ends with the Garden Party and Concert.

So what did everyone think of the book. Did people enjoy reading about the school from the Juniors perspective (the only other book which is exclusively from the Juniors perspective is Three Go). Did people feel it fitted in well with Princess? Did people feel Grizel’s growth in this term as a leader and a Prefect fitted in well with how she had grown over the previous terms, in the build up to this one, and in readiness for being asked to become Head Girl in another terms time? What did people think of Mademoiselle’s conversation and mentoring of Grizel when Grizel approached her for help? Please discuss this and anything else you would like to in relation to this book

_________________You should live each day as though you are going to live forever and as though you will die tomorrow.

It's great to see a book about the juniors. Robin and Amy feature frequently in the early books, but then the juniors are pretty much banished into the background - apart from Three Go, which most people say is one of their favourite books. I appreciate that the books were originally aimed at an audience of top junior or just above junior age, who probably wouldn't have been very interested in reading about younger girls - at that age, you do tend to be rather scathing of younger kids, just as the CS Middles are - but I wish now that we'd seen more of them.

I did enjoy this one, except for perhaps too many bleak moral legends. I found the interaction between Grizel & the juniors -- and its resolution -- just right, and thought the book did a great job meshing with canon. I especially liked the origins of Lost Property.

I really loved this book, especially the development of Grizel (someone Katherine said she found more challenging to write about in the notes at the end of the book). I remember feeling very satisfied when I read the book with how she grew as a person and how it fitted in with EBD's depiction of her. One thing I forgot to mention when I originally posted was this thread is Juniors is one of two books which covers a term EBD wrote about. What did people think of this? I didn't mind it, to the point I wish GGBP could combine both books to be as one! Do people like the term covered by two writers or do you prefer to have a book a term. Or does it depend on how the fill in fits in with EBD's book? I like it or put it this way it won't stop me from reading it, but it would depend on how the book fits with EBD's book as to whether I love it or not; and I did love this one. I love the scene between Grizel, Juliet and Mademoiselle and the developing friendship between Yvette and Amy (something hinted at in Exile). It was a fill in I found very hard to put down.

_________________You should live each day as though you are going to live forever and as though you will die tomorrow.

Re-reading this today, I do wonder why Matron Webb chose to work in schools considering how much she appears to dislike children.

_________________You're scared of mice and spiders, but oh-so-much greater is your fear that one day the two species will cross-breed to form an all-powerful race of mice-spiders, who will immobilize human beings in giant webs in order to steal cheese.